The Independent National Electoral Commission declares Idris Wada of the People’s Democratic Party, winner of the December 3, governorship election in Kogi State

After several months of intrigues and horse-trading, the December 3, governorship election  in Kogi State, lived up to its billing as a battle of titans. Indeed, it was a straight battle between Idris Wada, governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and Abubakar Audu of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. At the end of the titanic battle, Wada came out triumphant. He polled 300,372 votes to beat Audu, who came second with 157,811 votes.

Samsudeen Amali, vice chancellor of Nasarawa State University and chief returning officer, who announced the result, stated that Wada was declared winner because he satisfied the requirement of the electoral law by scoring the highest votes in 18 out of  21 local government areas of the state.

 The victory of Wada in the election could be attributed to several factors. One of such factors was the last minute reconciliation of all aggrieved members of the party in Abuja. Leaders of the party met with President Goodluck Jonathan barely 48 hours to the election   to resolve the crisis that engulfed the party as a result of its primaries.  Jonathan scheduled the meeting after observing that many prominent party members and aspirants were not at the grand finale of   the PDP’s governorship campaign on November 28, when he visited the state.

 Some of the top PDP members at  the Abuja meeting were Namadi Sambo, vice-president, David Mark, senate president, Isah Jibrin, winner of the January 9, PDP governorship primary,  Ahmadu Ali, former national chairman of the party, Salifu Atawodi, retired air vice marshal and governorship aspirant of the party and Tony Anenih, former chairman of PDP Board of Trustees, BOT.

Those present at the meeting expressed fear that the disunity in the party could give opportunity to an opposition party like the ACN to clinch victory at the election. At the end, all the aggrieved members resolved to work in harmony for the success of the party in the election. Isah, who had vowed to continue with the legal battle until his stolen mandate was restored, also agreed at the meeting to work for the victory of Wada in the election.

Many observers believe that the ACN   could not win the election because it failed to field a fresh candidate. Some indigenes of the state believe that though Audu who had ruled for two times in the state had a lot of achievements to his credit, he should have supported a fresh candidate instead of presenting himself for the election again. Newswatch also learnt that it was agreed among political elites from the eastern flank of the state that Dekina, one of the three oldest local governments in the zone where Wada comes from, should produce the next governor of the state.

The other two local governments areas that have had their turn are Ankpa and Idah. While Audu, who was the first executive governor of the state, is from old Idah local government area, Ibrahim Idris, the incumbent governor, is from Omala; carved out of Ankpa local government in 1996. Many people were of the view that voting for Audu again would give old Idah local government a second opportunity to the detriment of old Dekina local government which has never produced a governor in the state. 

The ACN has, however, rejected the result which it claimed to have been scientifically rigged and promised to challenge it at the election petition tribunal. Haddi Ametuo, Kogi State chairman of ACN, described the outcome of the election as shocking. He alleged that INEC connived with the PDP to rig the election through mutilation of result sheets. “The mutilations of result sheet actually attest to the fact that the election was rigged. We, therefore, call for the cancellation of the election result by INEC,” he said.

 Dino Melaye, a member of the ACN alleged that the PDP adopted a scientific method in rigging the December 3 election in Kogi State. Balarabe Musa, former governor of Kaduna State, also accused Attahiru Jega, chairman of INEC, of aiding the manipulation of the governorship election in favour of the PDP for fear of being sacked by the presidency. Musa stated that the relocation of Jega to Lokoja did not add credibility to the election.

“He was there to cover up the PDP manipulation. Even Jega knew that he could not do the job of conducting free, fair and transparent elections in the country,” he said.  But Jega has denied the allegation of scientific rigging in the last election. He stated that he did not know anything about scientific rigging and commended officials of INEC for doing a good job in Kogi State.

  He urged any political party that was not satisfied with the outcome of the election result to go to the tribunal. “If we have any one or more political parties that is not satisfied, they are free to approach the tribunal. It is part of electoral process,” he said.

Wada is not bothered by ACN’s allegation that the elections was rigged in his favour. He has promised to harness the abundant mineral resources in the state for its development when he assumes office in April 2012.